By Fr. Antony Christy –
The Word warns us against the viles of the evil one today! The Evil is at play in the world today – in all forms and at all levels – political, moral, religious, social and international. At all levels the Evil wants to gain power over this world and the humanity. In a way there are those who are giving in sometimes knowingly, many a times in a confusion and most of the times unknowingly.
The Lord invites us to run home, to the home secure, the home made by the Lord, the home that is eternal and lasts for ever, the home that protects us in mercy and forgiveness. Let us not hide from the Lord or rebel against the Lord, but in loving submission accept God’s will and carry it out with warmth and cordiality of true children of God.
There are three levels of attempt that the evil one makes: the first is to Demoralise us by compromises; secondly Demonise our identity by sowing confusions and finally to Demolish us at our core. It may sound very mysterious but reading and reflecting on the Word today, we have this explained to us a candid manner. Hence the threefold call that the Word gives us today:
1. Refuse to be Demoralised: Demoralisation weakening your resolve. This is what the Evil one does to begin with. A less complicated word for this is temptation. The evil one tempts you with compromises – that is things that seem to be easy substitutes to what ought to be. You are resolved not to do something – but circumstances and persons around make you change your mind to give in a little bit. “Giving in a little bit” is the starting point – that is compromise! This is what the Genesis presents – the compromise of ‘just a bite’! And that begins everything. Compromise is the most dangerous poison that is eating into the people of God today! You cannot compromise on what is right, what is true and what is Godly!
2. Refuse to be Demonised: Demonising someone is associating him or her closely to the evil one! They tried it with Jesus. They tried calling him ‘possessed’, a friend of the Beelzebul – nothing moved Jesus because he was clear about his identity. This trick of the evil one, tries to play our our self identity. Who are you? Where do you belong? Which is your home? What are you upto? Where is your destination? These are the crucial questions that define our identity. Paul answers them all: our home is the eternal home made by God and our life is a sojourn. Let us not get stuck to anything here: neither glory or failures, neither accomplishments or shortcomings – all that we need to do is keep our eyes fixed on that Eternal destiny and keep marching. You fall? Does it matter? Get up and keep walking. Don’t get stuck, don’t hide yourself and don’t settle yourself down wherever you are. Do not be confused about your identity: you are called to be sons and daughters of God our Father and Mother; brothers and sisters of the Word Incarnate; dwelling place of the Divine Spirit that makes us more and more Godly.
3. Refuse to be Demolished: The ultimate aim of the evil one is to demolish the people of God, built by the Word. The Evil one wishes to demolish that home built by the love of God, by the love that children of God have for each other, by the wish and desire to do the will of God! The House of God is built by listening to the Word, obeying the Word and living the Word. It is a Home that is filled with love, mercy and forgiveness – which the evil one wishes to fill with hatred, envy and violence today! Let us not give in. Let us resist till the end, till the end of our lives, thus at the end we shall find ourselves welcome in the HOME SECURE.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.